My dad landed in Normandy on the seventh, the second day. He never discussed any specifics other than to say that he walked across France, Belgium and Germany. My mother never knew any of the details.

In a way, I would have liked to have a discussion with my dad but I had been advised that it was a forbidden topic. I can only imagine the destruction and heartbreak from what has been shown in the years since.

DP

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"If there were fish in the lake, fishing would make no sense" Lech Walesa

Some guys Dad's jumped into Normandy before the landing craft arrived. Fortunately into a field, far from St. Mere Egilise!
Salmontogue, Your Dad was like most soldiers - won't talk about combat and the horrors they saw. My father-in-law was in the South Pacific, in FIVE island invasions. The last couple of weeks of his life while hospitalized he finally talked to me about it, he cried a lot.

My dad never went to Europe but served as an ordnance trainer in North Africa ... While on my wife's side her dad was a doctor, he and his brothers serving in the pacific conflict. They never talked about that either, though her one uncle brought back a Japanese pistol... Obtained somewhere along the line. My father in law treated Tojo after he tried to commit suicide, got him healthy enough to stand trial and eventually be hanged.

My father in law Dom, was in the 77th Infantry "Liberty" Division, after Okinawa they were the first units of the permanent occupation of Japan which arrived in October 1945. He said it was very, very tense when they sailed into Tokyo Bay. They were expecting the worst.

Side note - my brother-in-law has two pictures of Dom from Okinawa, the first is Dom and some buddies with Ernie Pyle, the famous war correspondent. The second was taken a few days later, it shows Dom and a buddy alongside Pyle's grave on Okinawa.

Apparently the Geneva convention has some rules about treating war criminals while in custody awaiting trials... Sound familiar?

My father in law said he got to know Tojo, after a fashion, having some conversations with him though AFAIK no one in the family knows the content of those conversations.

"Pyle was killed by a Japanese machine gunner on April 18, 1945, on the tiny Pacific island of Ie Shima. In announcing his death, President Harry Truman said, "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as the American fighting man wanted it told.""

There are two ways to find out what your loved one did during the war. One is to know his unit and follow it in U.S. Army archives. The other way is to be able to identify him as an individual and request his records from the DoD. How to go about the latter can be found on the internet.